Game 1 Week

Over the past few weeks I have been interning with the Fayetteville Force Indoor Football Team. For my internship I will be working with Alex Garmezy and Derek Hardy. Before this past week I had been going into the office about once or twice a week. At the time the Force was not needing my help all that much in the office and they did not have much for me to assist them with. Throughout those 3 weeks which I spent little time in the office, I did help with finding companies to provide helmets and shoulders pads at the best price offered. I also helped design and cut out cards for players to sign and handout to fans at a fan appreciation day. Another day in the office I assisted Alex in editing film from practice and moving each clip into a separate file to upload on the teams website. This past week was very crazy and hectic since it was the week right before the game opener on March 18, 2011. Alex and Derek both needed me in the office every day of the week to help them prepare for the home opener against the Carolina Speed. Prior to Friday’s game I helped Alex prepare field passes for all the interns, media passes, coach’s passes, and passes for everyone else in the office. Additionally, I helped prepare the dasher boards in preparation for Friday’s game. This was a very long and tiring process. On game day I arrived at the arena 5 hrs before the game to help set up sponsor signs along the railings, as well as making sure the field was fully prepared. I further assisted Alex in retrieving food for the Media room after the game as well as taking down all the sponsor signs after the game. During the game my duty was ball boy which entailed me throwing a football to the refs at times when a ball was thrown outside of the field or a field goal was attempted. Being a ball boy was first for me and a good experience since I was able to enjoy the game while working. Furthermore, being behind the scenes before and after the game was an eye opening experience to see all the time and planning that must be put in for such an event to be put on. As of now I have worked a total of 30hrs from spending time in the office and 9hrs this past Friday for the home opener. Now that the season has official started I will be going into the office a minimum of 3 times a week for 4hrs.